New BlackBerrys fail to impress Wall Street as concerns linger - CNET

While the new BlackBerrys impress, there was some level of disappointment, causing the stock to continue its week-long tumble. January 31, 2013 5:36 AM PST RIM CEO Thorsten Heins unveils the BB10's final features, BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10. (Credit: CNET/Sarah Tew) BlackBerry's splashy launch and two well-received new smartphones weren't enough to halt a week-long slide in its stock. Shares are down more than 6 percent to $12.94 today in pre-market action. In total, BlackBerry has lost a quarter of its market value over the last four days. While there seems to be universal acknowledgement that the newly introduced BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 represent a massive improvement over old BlackBerrys, there remains some disappointment with yesterday's announcement. More importantly, there also is a persistent concern that BlackBerry may have arrived too late with its last-ditch effort to get back into the smartphone game. "We believe the new devices will do more to retain existing Blackberry subscribers than to lure new subscribers," said S&P Capital IQ analyst James Moorman in a downgrade of the stock's investment rating. It's natural for BlackBerry to see a retreat in its stock after its torrid run over the past six months. The stock has doubled in that period on anticipation and excitement over the announcement, and this week may have represented a sell-on-the-news situation. But there was some disappointment. In particular, the fact that the U.S. carriers wouldn't start selling this thing until mid-March was a bit of a negative surprise, with many speculating that a February launch was more likely. The fact that BlackBerry Q10, which has the physical keyboard, wouldn't launch until at least a month later was also disappointing, as many traditional BlackBerry users may gravitate towards that device. And while BlackBerry has done a good job attractive developers, there are many key apps still missing from its BlackBerry World app store. There's also lingering concern that the platform may not have what it takes to cut through the dominance of Google's Android and Apple's iOS operating systems, which collectively made up 92 percent of sales in the last quarter. That dominance has led to flourishing application ecosystems, where BlackBerry still lags far behind. "We continue to believe that BB10 faces a daunting uphill battle against iOS and Android," said William Power, an analyst at Robert W. Baird, noting that the launch reminded him of Palm's ill-fated WebOS. Typing on the new BlackBerry Q10 (pictures) 1-2 of 8 Scroll Left Scroll Right While it may do well with the traditional BlackBerry users, the company will need to attract iPhone and Android users if it wants to sustain itself for the long term. Some aren't convinced. "While we were impressed with the features of the new OS, we believe RIM has only closed the gap with more mature smartphone OS platforms and offered limited differentiating services or features to win back customers from more mature ecosystems," said Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley. While BlackBerry did do a good job of getting the Z10 out in the market early in some regions, including in the U.K. and Canada, the lack of full distribution right away has some worried that the current quarter would continue to be disappointing. Moorman, for instance, believes that the company will again lose subscribers, something it did for the first time last quarter. Financially, BlackBerry will likely have a tough quarter as it ramps up spending to prepare for its big marketing campaign to promote BlackBerry 10. Due to the later launch in major markets such as the U.S., BlackBerry likely won't have a true indication of progress for a quarter or two. It appears some investors are willing to stick around and find out if BlackBerry's turnaround has really begun. BlackBerry 10 phones unveiled via Technology - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFElUJ_6C87TkbPmUe0CnnIiSzq2A&url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57566846-94/new-blackberrys-fail-to-impress-wall-street-as-concerns-linger/

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